The Pantheon (8 page)

“
Oh we’re not talking about Zach,” she said, straightening up suddenly and looking away. “No, I was just thinking about all those guys Devon goes after, you know? Like she pursues guys she can’t have on purpose. What is that?”

Jason sat back. He could see the door was closed. June was back to feigning ignorance.

The office door opened and Devon came out with a paper folded up in her hand. She cast a condescending glance to June as she passed. On her way out the door she flipped her hair, just for Jason’s benefit.

June stood up and straightened her skirt. She took off her shoes and carried them into the Principal’s office, not looking back. With any luck she could plead her case and her clean record would smooth this over.

The bell rang. All of the closed circuit TVs flicked on. Lewis Mercer sat at a desk and, from the TVs, he grinned out over every homeroom at Olympia Heights Senior High that Monday morning. He was a sprightly blonde boy and really loved the spotlight.

“
Good morning Olympia Heights. I’m Lewis Mercer and this is the news for today, Monday October second. Lunch today is chicken patties.

“
The results of the Semi-Formal Committee Chair election are in and the winner is Valerie Hess.”

Devon cursed under her breath. She knew that this was June’s fault.

June, who heard the news in her own homeroom, kept her composure. It was imperative that, no matter what happened, nobody at Olympia Heights Senior High ever saw her look disappointed or vulnerable. Still, June was sure if it weren’t for Devon, she would have had the spot.

The bell rang. June stood up and coolly left the room for her first class. It was alright, she tried to convince herself. June was used to giving herself little pep talks in her mind. It allowed her to keep control. Semi-formal committee wasn’t the be-all and end-all of student leadership. It would have been nice, but she didn’t need it. At least now she’d have more time to keep her eyes on Devon. She was going to need that.

“
Appearances are often deceiving.”

-Aesop

vi.

The friends were wrestling in the marble temple.

The young girl broke free of the goddess’ grasp.

She ducked under her arm and hid while laughing

behind a column.

The goddess had not seen where the girl had gone

but she knew her pattern well and so she smiled.

The girl managed to slip behind her and crouch,

ready, set to pounce.

They played this game often: the young girl would leap,

the goddess would vault out of her path and strike,

cutting the air behind and missing her friend,

and then they would laugh.

It was all a familiar game by this point.

He saw the mortal girl charging to attack

but he did not know that it was all pretend.

He reacted fast.

He thought that he was protecting the goddess.

He thought that her good friend had turned against her.

There was a flash and his arms circled the girl,

holding her in place.

Unaware of this, the goddess spun and struck,

intending to skim where the girl had just been,

to miss her friend and laugh about it later.

But she did not miss.

She stood over the dead body of the girl.

She began to weep for her closest of friends,

“
What have I done?” she cried to the heavens.

They did not answer.

“
Memory is the mother of all wisdom.”

-Aeschylus

VI.

The voice that trickled down the hall met Jason’s ears as he bent at the water fountain. At first he couldn’t tell what he was hearing, then as it became louder he was sure of it. Giggles. He looked back at his office, unsure if he should ignore it and go back to reading or be the responsible adult and go see to it that everyone got back to class.

The giggle was joined by a more masculine guffaw. Jason started toward his office, wanting to pretend he never heard anything. Candice Matthews came out of the main office and started toward his door. Jason pretended quickly not to see her and started down the hall. He’d rather deal with disciplining skiving teenagers than the chatty English teacher with a clear crush on him.

The culprit was one Devon Valentine. She was chatting up a senior who was growing a sad excuse for a goatee, leaning close and whispering in his ear. Jason didn’t want to know anything about what she was whispering.

“
Mr. Casey,” Jason said. “Where do you belong?”

“
Study hall,” the senior said. “Just using the bathroom.” He waved his pass.

“
Then I suggest you get back there, unless you’ve somehow found a way to teleport your pee to the urinal while talking to Miss Valentine.”

Jason was pretty sure he heard Mr. Casey mutter “douche” as he walked away, but he wasn’t in the mood to get into it with a surly eighteen-year-old. He turned his attention to Devon. “And where are you supposed to be? Do you have a hall pass?”

“
Oh, I’m late for Math.”

Jason blinked. Was she really going to be that brutally honest? How could he not write her up when she admitted so openly that she was basically cutting a required class! “Okay. Well, you need to follow me to the office then.”

“
Wait,” Devon said, reaching out and resting just her fingertips on Jason’s arm. “Wow,” she said. “Do you work out?”

He rolled his eyes, “Not funny Miss Valentine, and not going to work.” Suddenly he was struck with a wave of what he could only describe as heavy air. It was like a perfumed current of humidity crashed into him, making his eyes droop, his heart race, and his breathing labored. His skin tingled. He looked around and the only clarity he could find was straight ahead, eyes focused on Devon. He had no desire to leave right now, only to focus on her. He couldn’t even open his mouth.

“
Please don’t take me to the office; I just barely got off with that fight June started last week.” She twirled her long blonde hair on one finger, eyes large and fixed on him, lips curled into a nearly-invisible smirk. “I’ll just head to class now. I won’t be very late and you won’t have to bother filling out paperwork.”

Devon placed her hand on Jason’s arm again and he felt a jolt go through his body. He told himself to focus, to tear his eyes away, and to walk away now because something was very, very wrong and Devon was seventeen.

“
Dr. Livingstone,” a sharp voice called behind him. The air cleared. Jason whirled around, thankful for the rescue even if it was Candice Matthews. It was not. “Great, I was just looking for you.”

Miranda Rutherford was the model student at Olympia Heights Senior High. She was intelligent, articulate, responsible, and behaved. Despite standing at an unimpressive five-feet two-inches, she had presence. Miranda, or Minnie, was the top of every class and president of nearly as many clubs as June Herald. Unlike June Herald and her rival, Devon, Miranda didn’t have much style. She had round glasses, shoulder length hair that fell around her face without any attention other than a brushing after her shower, and hadn’t ever bothered to pierce her ears. Today Miranda was dressed for gym, wearing sneakers, track shorts, and a purple t-shirt that read “I believe in Severus Snape.”

“
Jake Estavez hurt his ankle out on the soccer field,” she said, looking like she was still catching her breath. “Coach Morin sent me in to find you.”

Jason glanced back at Devon, giving her a look that he hoped conveyed how close she had cut it. He was grateful because Minnie had saved him, though from what he wasn’t exactly sure. “Alright,” he said, walking toward his office to grab the first aid kit hanging near the door. “Lead the way.”

The bell rang in Honors Chemistry that afternoon. Dr. Davis asked June Herald to stay after. June approached the desk. The only other student left in the room was Minnie Rutherford, who was locking up the chemical storage cabinet.

“
Is something wrong?” June asked, her eyes drifting to watch Devon follow Zach into the hall.

Dr. Davis opened the top drawer of her desk and pulled out a manila folder marked with “Labs” and last Thursday’s date. She presented June with her latest lab grade. A “D”. “You’re an A student, June. What is this?”

“
I uh—I guess I just didn’t grasp the concept of what we were doing.” She bit her lip. June knew exactly what had happened with that grade. She’d spent most of the lab watching Devon bat her eyelashes at Zach. Every time June would get her focus back, Devon would find some excuse to walk by Zach’s table and run her hand along his shoulder. Zach would get all dopey looking and then June’s focus would leave the line graph of temperatures. Devon’s pursuit of Zach was problematic, but this new problem was going to have to take priority. The grade wouldn’t look good in her average and she needed to get into an Ivy League school. She’d been dreaming of Harvard since she was twelve and she’d just barely squeaked out of the fight without a mark on her permanent record. She took a deep breath. “Can I make it up?” she asked.

“
Can you find a lab partner to come and do it after school today?”

June knew she’d never get Zach to do it. He had football. She considered Dr. Davis’ question for a moment.

“
I can stay.” Minnie had overheard them and came back to the desk. She handed Dr. Davis the keys to the cabinet. “If you need my help. I mean, this kind of stuff is fun.”

“
Oh thank you!” June gushed, “You’re a life saver!”

“
Alright, two fifteen. Don’t be late.” Dr. Davis locked the keys to the cabinet in her desk drawer.

“
See you then,” June ran for the door. She needed to catch up with Zach.

Minnie was already waiting when June got to the chemistry classroom. She was reading a sophomore lab write-up that had been left behind on the desk. Her hair was pulled back into a very plain ponytail and her glasses had slipped down her nose. Minnie had brown eyes and a slender build that was well hidden behind baggy fandom t-shirts. Minnie’s legs were very long in proportion to the rest of her body, but all-in-all she was only five-foot two-inches. She pushed her glasses back up her nose, where they stayed for a moment before beginning to slip once more.

“
Ready?” June got her binder out.

“
Yeah.” Minnie set her bag down. It thunked heavily on the table. “Can I just suggest something before we start? Or rather make an observation?”

“
Hmm?”

“
I think you grasp the concept. I think you’re just distracted.”

June stopped rooting through her bag. “By what?”

“
By watching Devon Valentine.” She’d seen the fight in the hall the other day. Somehow, June kept her composure.

“
Devon’s gone after Zach just to spite me. I don’t trust her.” She attached a rubber hose to a glass tube and slid it through a rubber stopper. June went back to business as if that was the end of it.

“
Do you trust him?” Minnie asked.

June didn’t look up. “I don’t trust her.”

“
It shouldn’t matter if you trust her; it’s not about her. It’s him that matters.” Not that Minnie would know. She’d never had a boyfriend. She’d never even tried to have a boyfriend. Still, her lack of interest in dating didn’t detract from her ability to see human relationships clearly and she saw that June and Zach’s was not so healthy. “You did nothing but spy on Devon when we did the lab. And now you’re here making it up and she’s out on the football field shaking her pom-poms in his view.”

June’s initial imagining of Devon’s pom-poms did not include synthetic plastic streamers mounted on handles. She set the burner down hard and looked at Minnie, “It doesn’t matter if I trust Zach or not. She can still lay distrust between us. She can still drive a wedge if she wants to with her own dishonesty.”

Minnie was about to say that she doubted Devon would do that, but she knew Devon was pretty cut-throat when she wanted something. So was June.

“
I’m just gonna say the distrust is working.” She quickly changed the subject. “Okay, so what we’re looking for when we graph the temperatures is a plateau. That’s the boiling point.”

Dr. Davis came in with a fresh cup of coffee to check on the girls. Her eyes fell on them, side by side, cooperating but at odds. It was like watching family. They looked like a pair of bickering sisters as Minnie corrected June’s lab write-up.

“
How the hell do you remember that?” June remarked about a procedure Minnie rattled off from the text-book. She’d seemingly memorized the whole lab.

“
I have a perfect memory,” Minnie bragged.

Celene moved to her desk and sat down to watch. They didn’t seem to notice her.